Beschreibung:
Bio‐hydrogen was produced from different agro‐industrial wastes by Hypocrea lixii SS1 isolated from fouled soil. The alkaline pre‐treatment of sunflower oil sludge resulted in a bio‐hydrogen potential of 405 mL H2/g volatile solids (VS). The role of sunflower oil sludge on the bio‐hydrogen production by H. lixii SS1 was investigated. It was inferred that xylose enhances the bio‐hydrogen production when compared to other monomeric carbohydrates in sunflower oil sludge. A maximum bio‐hydrogen potential of 430 mL H2/g VS was achieved with 7.2 mg/mL of xylose formation for a 168 h incubation period. The bio‐hydrogen production was carried out under optimized conditions of 80 g/L inoculum, pH 5 and 50 °C, and a maximum bio‐hydrogen potential of 494.26 mL H2/g VS was obtained. A cumulative bio‐hydrogen production of 450 mL was achieved with modified Gompertz model. The maximum chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal efficiency (93%) and maximum fermentative products (2182.60 mg COD/L) with total volatile fatty acids of 2032.82 mg COD/L were obtained when 120 and 80 g/L of inoculum were added to the reactor, respectively. Hence, enzymatic hydrolysis led to a marked improvement in the overall bio‐hydrogen yield of 400–500 mL H2/g VS suggesting the potential use of sunflower oil sludge for bio‐hydrogen production in a cost effective manner.